With the awards season in full swing as shown by our Red Carpet coverage, this is the month of catching up on this year’s Oscar nominated biggies.  Last week, thanks to the folks at Empire films, I got a chance to see Django Unchained at its Dubai premiere at Reel Cinemas, Dubai Mall.

Django Unchained is Quentin Tarantino’s latest film and if I were to horrendously oversimplify is Inglorious Basterds set in the Deep South before the Civil War. Tarantino is probably one of Hollywood’s bravest directors and each of his films comes with his signature touch. Django Unchained is no different and thus makes the mark as one of the best films of 2012.

Set two years prior to the Civil War, the film opens with a group of slaves being transported from a recent auction. The buyers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz) who is especially interested in one of the slaves, Django (Jamie Foxx). After several liters of blood being spilled, Django and Schultz tie up to become a bounty hunting team and in return Django becomes a free black man. The two then set off to rescue Django’s wife, Hildi (Kerry Washington) from plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

For me Tarantino’s films are like an epic poem.  The characters are larger than life and the screenplay is elevated to another level thanks to the exquisite background score. In most films there are one or two sequences that stand out, but in Django Unchained there are more sequences than I could keep track of. And as is common in Tarantino’s movies, violence plays a integral supporting character with his trademark style of bloodshed coming fast and heavy. This is definitely not the movie for the weak stomached but even I who doesn’t particularly enjoy violence-heavy movies, found this film to be great.

As with his previous movies, Django Unchained is full of stellar performances from the gifted cast. Jamie Foxx is incredibly believable as Django but it’s Christopher Waltz’ Schultz who is my favorite. Special mention for Leonardo DiCaprio who plays the despicable Candie with such flair that you actually want to root for him.

If you haven’t seen Django yet, make it a priority to catch it in the cinemas and then watch it again upon the DVD release. This is one of 2012′s movies you won’t want to miss.

Dollz Movie Review Rating: 5 stars out of 5